A Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) architectural fragment of a brick tile with a Chilin mythical animal in the relief style carved form with traces of organic color pigment possibly made from the Lapis Lazuli stone.
Brick carving is a genre of its own, mostly used for architectural purposes.
Chilin is an ancient mythical animal, said to have the scaled body like horse or deer with a dragon head that can travel a thousand miles a day. It is an auspicious symbol often used today to congratulate a young male's achievement in career.

This huge Qing Dynasty handmade water storage clay jar interests me for its beautiful design. A more common Chinese water storage jar would be created with a proportionally much wider bottom for the purpose of stability. However, the owner of this jar in ancient time who had this pot created with such a beautiful shape, contrary to what would have been ordinary, obviously was concerned with aesthetics more than anything as we all know how difficult and costly it is to fire a very large pot. It often involves many tries. This pot at its size was created in a perfect and well balanced shape and is very stable.
This jar is decorated with flowers from the four seasons, representing the aspect of Chinese culture co-existing with and indulging in nature. It also is decorated with various carp and catfish design representing plentiful-ness or abundance. The gradually inwardly thickened and textured rim in petal shape is a wonderful touch to the hands as it feels very differently from the more generically molded pottery. Inside the jar, one can see how glaze was applied in a swirling moving pattern.
Dimensions: 35.25” Height by 46.38” Diameter

This incredibly beautiful massive size single four-sectional Dragon and Phoenix roof-tile was created and fired in separate sections with Tri-Color style glaze. Its elaborately handmade clay design is among the best. This roof-tile came from the rooftop of a prominent 17-18th century building.
In ancient time, according to legend, a city was destroyed by thunders. Buildings were burned down by fire. Afterwards, dragon tiles were created and installed on the rooftop of the building with a lightning rod to partially induce the thunder off the building. Dragons were believed to have supernatural powers, such as the ability to bring water and rain.
For old Chinese buildings with dragon roof-tiles, layered roofs were created to house different styles and scales of dragons serving different meanings according to different designs. They were often created in pairs.
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